More Reviews! the more pressure you put up, the more im able to write and i might be able to post faster.

Chapter Three

Darkness on the Hogwarts Express

Faykan released Draco and recovered the black orb with its cloth, hiding away the swirling smoke and its taunting presence. "What did you see?" he repeated as he faced them. Harry was far too lost to answer, unsure as to what they had indeed witnessed in the stone's depths to describe it. Therefore it was down to Draco to explain the strange visions they had perceived, beginning with the five strange old men, and ending with Gandalf combating the Balrog in the dark cave. Faykan sat on his throne chair in silence as Draco spoke, not interrupting or questioning, but neither explaining anything.

Finally after Draco had completely finished, Faykan leaned back with a sigh and finally spoke again, "So you heard the call of the Palantír of Elendil the entire time you were here Draco?" Draco nodded and Faykan tried to hide a small smile, but Harry saw it. He watched as his friend explained the more vivid visions they had witnessed, that the five old men were the mighty Istari who had come during the Third Age to guide the inhabitants of Arda; Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey, Radagast the Brown, Alatar the Azure, and Pallando the Cyan.

"But," Harry finally asked, "Why did we see these things in that stone? I don't understand…" Faykan sighed again at Harry's question. "Neither do I. Exciting isn't it though, but I cannot say for certain. Perhaps lingering magic from thousands of years ago when Saruman dwelt in this valley, but I'm not so sure." Harry gasped; one of those powerful men had lived here, in this very tower.

Faykan finally persuaded both Harry and Draco to go to bed, as they were going to be out all day tomorrow at Diagon alley, therefore they needed their rest. As Harry closed the door to his room, he could see Faykan settling down on the balcony with his clay pipe again, drawing deeply from the burning herbs in it and staring out over the forest with a far away look that Harry was so familiar with.

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Diagon Alley was as fascinating as always. Draco had many favored memories of the many shops from when he was little with his parents, but being here with just his friends was even more exciting. After filling their coin purses with gold at Gringotts, the three friends set off down the street. Draco had to drag Harry and Faykan over to Quality Quidditch Supplies in order to investigate a gathered crowd.

"Just come out, prototype…" a square jawed wizard was telling his companion.

"It's the fastest broom in the world, isn't it, Dad?" squeaked a boy younger than Draco, who was swinging off his father's arm.

"Irish International Side's just put in an order for seven of these beauties!" the proprietor of the shop told the crowd. "And they're favorites for the World Cup!"

Draco pushed past a few people and made room for Faykan and Harry so they could read the sign next to the new broom:

THE FIREBOLT

THIS STATE-OF-THE-ART PACING BROOM SPORTS

A STREAM-LINED, SUPERFINE HANDLE OF ASH,

TREATED WITH A DIAMOND-HARD POLISH AND

HAND- NUMBERED WITH ITS OWN REGISTRATION NUMBER.

EACH INDIVIDUALLY SELECTED BIRCH TWIG

IN THE BROOMTAIL HAS BEEN HONED TO AERODYNAMIC

PERFECTION, GIVING THE FIREBOLT UNSURPASSABLE

BALANCE AND PINPOINT PRECISION.

THE FIREBOLT HAS

AN ACCELERATION OF 150 MILES AN HOUR IN TEN SECONDS AND

INCORPORATES AN

UNBREAKABLE BRAKING CHARM.

PRICE ON REQUEST.

Draco winced when he read 'Price on request,' not wanting to know how much damage the broom could do to a bank vault. He was sure that his father would never purchase the Firebolt for him. Looking to his friends, Draco could see the same look of desire on Harry, but he really didn't need the new prototype. He was far better than any other Seeker in Hogwarts on just his Nimbus Two-thousand, including Draco himself. Faykan looked disinterested, as he had never really been into Quidditch as much as Harry, Draco, or Ron. Draco managed to stare longingly at the broom for a few more moments before Faykan pulled him and Harry out of the crowd by their collars, saying that they really needed to get their purchases done and meet up with Ron and Hermione.

Together, they went and replenished their potions ingredients and purchased new school robes, especially important for Harry and Faykan given their recent growth spurts. Draco mentioned that they should acquire some dress robes, because his father would be inviting them to the Malfoy Yuletide celebration over the Christmas holiday. Most important was their need to buy their new books, including the ones for their new subjects. Draco had chosen Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures, and he knew that Harry and Faykan had both taken Divination.

After acquiring their books - the manager had practically cried after Faykan said that he and Draco needed copies of The Monster Book of Monsters, and Harry had to be pulled away from a book about death omens - they then went down to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor for a break from shopping where they ran into Ron and Hermione sitting outside, and they joined their friends and ordered large ice creams for the five of them.

"Look at this," said Ron, pulling a long, thin box out of a bag and opening it. "Brand new wand. Fourteen inches, willow, containing one unicorn tail hair. And we've got all our books…" He pointed at a large bag under his chair. "What about those Monster Books, eh? The assistant nearly cried when we said we wanted two." They all laughed, except Hermione, who was looking through her extra bags of books. Harry asked her about it, and she explained that she had more books because she was taking all of the extra subjects that year.

"Are you planning to eat or sleep at all this year, Hermione?" asked Harry, while Ron and Faykan sniggered. Hermione ignored them.

"I've still got ten Galleons," she said, checking her purse. "It's my birthday in September, and Mum and Dad gave me some money to get myself an early birthday present."

"How about a nice book?" said Ron innocently.

"No, I don't think so," said Hermione composedly. "I really want an owl. I mean, Harry's got Hedwig, Faykan has his raven, and you've got Errol…"

"I haven't," said Ron. "Errol's a family owl. All I've got is Scabbers."

He pulled his pet rat out of his pocket. "And I want to get him checked over," he added, placing Scabbers on the table in front of them. "I don't think Egypt agreed with him."

Scabbers was looking thinner than usual, and there was a definite droop to his whiskers.

"There's a magical creature shop just over there," said Draco, who knew Diagon Alley very well. "You could see if they've got anything for Scabbers, and Hermione can get her owl."

So they paid for their ice cream and crossed the street to the Magical Menagerie.

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He had been stuck in this pet shop for so long; he was weary of waiting for someone to bond with. The woman who owned the building didn't like him, he knew it, but she could not get rid of him. She would throw him out every other week, and he would find a way back inside.

The bell chimed, signaling the door opening. 'Perhaps today is the day at last?' he dared to hope. Three boys, nothing special about them, two were bonded to familiars already. The girl was interesting, she was unbonded at the moment, but she was eyeing the owls. The fourth boy was odd; he was not what he appeared to be. He smelled old, very old, and full of memory and wisdom, but alas, he was bonded to a bird as well. The red haired boy pulled a rat out and place it on the desk, wait, it was no rat… it was a man, a man in hiding and full of fear… he sniffed again, he smelled the scent of fear mixed with… betrayal. The rat man was dangerous, he must act! He leaped, diving on top of the red boys head, spitting and clawing at the rat man, defending these children from the betrayer.

"NO, CROOKSHANKS, NO!" cried the owner witch, but the rat man shot from between her hands, landed on the floor, and then scampered for the door. The boys ran after the rat. But he was dangerous, foolish humans! Crookshanks started to race after the rat, but the girl had lifted him into her arms…

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It took them nearly ten minutes to catch Scabbers, who had taken refuge under a wastepaper bin outside Quality Quidditch Supplies. Ron stuffed the trembling rat back into his pocket and straightened up, massaging his head. They made their way back up the crowded street to the Magical Menagerie. As they reached it, Hermione came out, but she wasn't carrying an owl. Her arms were clamped tightly around the enormous ginger cat.

"You bought that monster?" said Ron, his mouth hanging open.

"He's gorgeous, isn't he?" said Hermione, glowing.

That was a matter of opinion, thought Harry. The cat's ginger fur was thick and fluffy, but it was definitely a bit bowlegged and its face looked grumpy and oddly squashed, as though it had run headlong into a brick wall. Now that Scabbers was out of sight, however, the cat was purring contentedly in Hermione's arms.

"Hermione, that thing nearly scalped me!" said Ron.

"He didn't mean to, did you, Crookshanks?" said Hermione.

"And what about Scabbers?" Ron whined, pointing at the lump in his chest pocket. "He needs rest and relaxation! How's he going to get it with that thing around?"

"That reminds me, you forgot your rat tonic," said Hermione, slapping the small red bottle into Ron's hand. "And stop worrying, Crookshanks will be sleeping in my dormitory and Scabbers in yours, what's the problem? Poor Crookshanks, that witch said he'd been in there for ages; no one wanted him."

"Wonder why," Ron mumbled sarcastically as they set off toward the Leaky Cauldron.

Harry saw Faykan eyeing the cat curiously. Draco was simply shaking his head at Hermione and Ron's argument. The rest of the Weasleys were waiting inside the pub as the five third years entered. Faykan went to get a room for himself, Harry, and Draco while Mr. Weasley, Fred, George, Ginny, and Percy talked with the others. They mainly discussed Percy being Head Boy, or the Ministry cars they would be taking to Kings Cross the next day. Harry noticed that Ginny seemed less embarrassed about being so close to him, probably because she was too busy stealing glances at a certain young, blonde aristocrat. Mr. Weasley wouldn't explain why the ministry was providing the cars, and Harry was worried that it might have something to do with Sirius Black.

His suspicions were later confirmed when he went downstairs after dinner to pick up one of Draco's books that he had left out. Harry was halfway along the passage to the bar, which was now very dark, when he heard another pair of angry voices coming from the parlor. A second later, he recognized them as Mr. and Mrs. Weasleys'. He hesitated, not wanting them to know he'd heard them arguing, when the sound of his own name made him stop, then move closer to the parlor door.

"…makes no sense not to tell him," Mr. Weasley was saying heatedly.

"Harry's got a right to know. I've tried to tell Dumbledore, but he insists on treating Harry like a child. He's thirteen years old and…"

"Arthur, the truth would terrify him!" said Mrs. Weasley shrilly. "Do you really want to send Harry back to school with that hanging over him? For heaven's sake, he's happy not knowing!"

"I don't want to make him miserable; I want to put him on his guard!" retorted Mr. Weasley. "You know what Harry, Ron, and their friends are like, wandering off by themselves; they've ended up in the Forbidden Forest twice! But Harry mustn't do that this year! When I think what could have happened to him that night Faykan took him away from home! We all thought Black had gotten him until Dumbledore said he was safely hidden away with his friend. But Dumbledore was angry Molly; he clearly didn't like the idea of Harry being away from his relatives with Black on the loose, he tried so hard to keep it out of the papers that Harry has disappeared…

"But he's not dead, he's fine, so what's the point…"

"Molly, they say Sirius Black's mad, and maybe he is, but he was clever enough to escape from Azkaban, and that's supposed to be impossible. It's been three weeks, and no one's seen hide nor hair of him. I don't care what Fudge keeps telling the Daily Prophet, we're no nearer catching Black than inventing self-spelling wands. The only thing we know for sure is what Black's after…"

"But Harry will be perfectly safe at Hogwarts."

"We thought Azkaban was perfectly safe. If Black can break out of Azkaban, he can break into Hogwarts."

"But no one's really sure that Black's after Harry…"

There was a thud on wood, and Harry was sure Mr. Weasley had banged his fist on the table.

"Molly, how many times do I have to tell you? They didn't report it in the press because Fudge wanted it kept quiet, but Fudge went out to Azkaban the night Black escaped. The guards told Fudge that Black's been talking in his sleep for a while now. Always the same words: 'He's at Hogwarts... he's at Hogwarts.' Black is deranged, Molly, and he wants Harry dead. If you ask me, he thinks murdering Harry will bring You-Know-Who back to power. Black lost everything the night Harry stopped You-Know-Who, and he's had twelve years alone in Azkaban to brood on that..."

There was a silence. Harry leaned still closer to the door, desperate to hear more.

"Well, Arthur, you must do what you think is right. But you're forgetting Albus Dumbledore. I don't think anything could hurt Harry at Hogwarts while Dumbledore's headmaster. I suppose he knows about all this?"

"Of course he knows. We had to ask him if he minds the Azkaban guards stationing themselves around the entrances to the school grounds. He wasn't happy about it, but he agreed."

"Not happy? Why shouldn't he be happy, if they're there to catch Black?"

"Dumbledore isn't fond of the Azkaban guards," said Mr. Weasley heavily.

"Nor am I, if it comes to that... but when you're dealing with a wizard like Black, you sometimes have to join forces with those you'd rather avoid."

"If they save Harry then I will never say another word against them," said Mr. Weasley wearily. "It's late, Molly, we'd better go up..."

So Sirius Black was after him. And the Ministry was sending two cars to take them all to the station tomorrow, so that the Weasleys could look after Harry until he was on the train. They were also posting guards around Hogwarts just to keep him safe. Harry returned and placed the book on Draco's trunk, as the boy was already asleep in one of the three beds in their room, as there had only been one available. He glanced at Faykan's still form, curled on his side as he slept. Unbidden, the image of the giant dog in the shadows of Magnolia Crescent crossed his mind and the Grim that he had seen on the book in Flourish and Blotts. 'What to do when you know the worst is coming...'

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The journey to King's Cross was very uneventful. Harry was comfortably seated in the back of one car with Ron, Hermione, and Faykan. The Ministry of Magic's cars seemed almost ordinary, though Harry noticed that they could slide through gaps that any other muggle car wouldn't have managed. They reached King's Cross with twenty minutes to spare. The Ministry drivers found them trolleys, unloaded their trunks, touched their hats in salute to Mr. Weasley, and drove away, somehow managing to jump to the head of an unmoving line at the traffic lights.

Mr. Weasley kept close to Harry's elbow all the way into the station.

"Right then," he said, glancing around them. "Let's do this in pairs, as there are so many of us. I'll go through first with Harry."

Mr. Weasley strolled toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten, pushing Harry's trolley and apparently very interested in the Intercity 125 that had just arrived at platform nine. With a meaningful look at Harry, he leaned casually against the barrier. Harry imitated him. In a moment, they had fallen sideways through the solid metal onto platform nine and three quarters and looked up to see the Hogwarts Express, a scarlet steam engine, puffing smoke over a platform packed with witches and wizards seeing their children onto the train.

Faykan and Draco appeared behind them, later followed by Ron and Ginny, Hermione and Percy, Fred and George, and finally Mrs. Weasley.

"Ah, there's Penelope!" said Percy, smoothing his hair and going pink again. Ron caught Harry's eye, and they both turned away to hide their laughter as Percy strode over to a girl with long, curly hair, walking with his chest thrust out so that she couldn't miss his shiny badge. After loading their trunks and animals onto the train, they stepped off again to say goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Harry was embarrassed when Mrs. Weasley hugged him, but it still was pleasant. Mr. Weasley pulled him aside to request (beg) Harry to, of all the strange things, not go looking for Black. Harry was very confused, why would he want to look for someone who wanted to kill him? Finally he agreed just so he could get on the train as it left the station. Ron had to throw open one of the doors for Harry to jump in. They leaned out of the window and waved at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley until the train turned a corner and blocked them from view.

"I need to talk to you in private," Harry muttered to Ron, Faykan and Hermione as the train picked up speed. Draco was gone, presumable sitting with some of the Slytherins to keep up his appearances.

"Go away, Ginny," said Ron.

"Oh, that's nice," said Ginny huffily, and she stalked off.

Harry, Ron, Faykan and Hermione set off down the corridor, looking for an empty compartment, but all were full except for the one at the very end of the train.

This had only one occupant, a man sitting fast asleep next to the window. Harry, Ron, and Hermione checked on the threshold. The Hogwarts Express was usually reserved for students and they had never seen an adult there before, except for the witch who pushed the food cart.

The stranger was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard's robes that had been darned in several places. He looked ill and exhausted. Though quite young, his light brown hair was flecked with gray.

"Who d'you reckon he is?" Ron hissed as they sat down and slid the door shut, taking the seats farthest away from the window.

"Professor R. J. Lupin," whispered Hermione at once.

"How d'you know that?" Ron said turning to Harry, "How does she always know these things?"

"It's on his case, Ron." Faykan said, pointing at the luggage rack over the man's head, where there was a small, battered case held together with a large quantity of neatly knotted string. The name 'Professor R. J. Lupin' was stamped across one corner in peeling letters.

"Wonder what he teaches?" said Ron, frowning at Professor Lupin's pallid profile.

"That's obvious," whispered Hermione. "There's only one vacancy, isn't there? Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Well, I hope he's up to it," said Ron doubtfully. "He looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesn't he? Anyway..." He turned to Harry. "What were you going to tell us?"

Harry explained all about Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's argument and the warning Mr. Weasley had just given him. When he'd finished, Ron looked thunderstruck, and Hermione had her hands over her mouth. She finally lowered them to say, "Sirius Black escaped to come after you? Oh, Harry... you'll have to be really, really careful. Don't go looking for trouble, Harry…"

"I don't go looking for trouble," said Harry, stung. "Trouble usually finds me."

"How thick would Harry have to be to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him?" said Ron shakily.

They were both taking the news worse than Harry had expected. Both Ron and Hermione seemed to be much more frightened of Black than he or Faykan was.

"No one knows how he got out of Azkaban," said Ron uncomfortably. "No one's ever done it before. And he was a top security prisoner too."

"But they'll catch him, won't they?" said Hermione earnestly.

"I'm going to tell you two what I told Harry over the summer," Faykan said slowly, "Black might not have been as guilty as the Ministry is leading everyone to believe. They never gave him a trial after all, and its rather fishy the circumstances around which he was taken to Azkaban in the first place. Just don't completely assume that he actually is coming for Harry."

"What's that noise?" said Ron suddenly.

A faint, tinny sort of whistle was coming from somewhere. They looked all around the compartment.

"It's coming from your trunk, Harry," said Ron, standing up and reaching into the luggage rack. A moment later he had pulled the Pocket Sneakoscope out from between Harry's robes. It was spinning very fast in the palm of Ron's hand and glowing brilliantly.

"Is that a Sneakoscope?" said Hermione interestedly, standing up for a better look.

"Yeah... mind you, it's a very cheap one," Ron said. "It went haywire just as I was tying it to Errol's leg to send it to Harry."

"Were you doing anything untrustworthy at the time?" said Hermione shrewdly.

"No! Well... I wasn't supposed to be using Errol. You know he's not really up to long journeys... but how else was I supposed to get Harry's present to him?"

"Stick it back in the trunk," Harry advised as the Sneakoscope whistled piercingly, "or it'll wake him up."

He nodded toward Professor Lupin. Ron stuffed the Sneakoscope into a pair of old socks, which deadened the sound, then closed the lid of the trunk on it.

"We could get it checked in Hogsmeade," said Ron, sitting back down. "They sell that sort of thing in Dervish and Banges, magical instruments and stuff. Fred and George told me."

"Do you know much about Hogsmeade?" asked Hermione keenly. "I've read it's the only entirely non Muggle settlement in Britain…"

"Yeah, I think it is," said Ron in an offhand sort of way.

"But that's not why I want to go. I just want to get inside Honeydukes."

"What's that?" said Hermione.

"It's this sweetshop," said Ron, a dreamy look coming over his face, "where they've got everything... Pepper Imps; they make you smoke at the mouth, and great fat Chocoballs full of strawberry mousse and clotted cream, and really excellent sugar quills, which you can suck in class and just look like you're thinking what to write next…"

"But Hogsmeade's a very interesting place, isn't it?" Hermione pressed on eagerly. "In Sites of Historical Sorcery it says the inn was the headquarters for the 1612 goblin rebellion, and the Shrieking Shack's supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain…"

"…and massive sherbert balls that make you levitate a few inches off the ground while you're sucking them," said Ron, who was plainly not listening to a word Hermione was saying.

Hermione looked around at Harry.

"Won't it be nice to get out of school for a bit and explore Hogsmeade?"

"'Spect it will," said Harry heavily. "You'll have to tell me when you've found out."

"What d'you mean?" said Ron.

"I can't go, I didn't get the permission form until I was at Faykan's house, and then it was too late to get the Dursleys to sign it."

Ron looked horrified, but Faykan laughed, "Good thing I made them sign a copy when I picked you up then isn't it?"

Harry grinned, but before anyone could say anything the compartment door opened, and Theodore Nott barged in, "Well, look who it is, Potty and his little buddies," he drawled.

Crabbe and Goyle chuckled trollishly.

"I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasel," Nott continued. "Did your mother die of shock?"

Ron stood up so quickly he knocked Crookshanks' basket to the floor. Professor Lupin gave a snort.

"Careful Nott, we've got a teacher in this compartment," Faykan said with a sly grin. Nott glared at him, and Harry followed his eyes as they darted from Faykan to Harry and back. "C'mon," he muttered resentfully to Crabbe and Goyle, and they disappeared, Nott sending a final glare at Faykan before disappearing.

Ron sat down slowly, fingering his new wand. "I can't wait to try this wand out on Nott this year. If he or any other Slytherin makes one more crack about my family I'm going to give them the hexing of their lifetimes."

"Ron," hissed Hermione, pointing at Professor Lupin, "be careful..."

But Professor Lupin was still fast asleep.

The rain thickened as the train sped farther north; the windows were now a solid, shimmering gray, which gradually darkened until lanterns flickered into life all along the corridors and over the luggage racks. The train rattled, the rain hammered, the engine roared, but still, Professor Lupin slept.

"We must be nearly there," said Ron, leaning forward to look past Professor Lupin at the now completely black window.

The words had hardly left him when the train started to slow down

"Great," said Ron, getting up and walking carefully past Professor Lupin to try and see outside. "I'm starving. I want to get to the feast…"

"We can't be there yet," said Hermione, checking her watch.

"So why're we stopping?" asked Harry.

The train was getting slower and slower. As the noise of the pistons fell away, the wind and rain sounded louder than ever against the windows.

Harry, who was nearest the door got up to look into the corridor. All along the carriage, heads were sticking curiously out of their compartments.

The train came to a stop with a jolt, and distant thuds and bangs told them that luggage had fallen out of the racks. Then, without warning, all the lamps went out and they were plunged into total darkness.

"'What's going on?" said Ron's voice from behind Harry.

"Ouch!" gasped Hermione. "Ron, that was my foot!"

Harry felt his way back to his seat.

"D'you think we've broken down?"

"Dunno..."

There was a squeaking sound, and Harry saw the dim black outline of Ron, wiping a patch clean on the window and peering out.

"There's something moving out there," Ron said. "I think people are coming aboard..."

Harry heard Faykan gasp in sudden pain, but before he could light his wand to try and help, the compartment door suddenly opened and someone fell painfully over Harry's legs.

"Sorry… d'you know what's going on? Ouch! Sorry."

"Hullo, Neville," said Harry, feeling around in the dark and pulling Neville up by his cloak.

"Harry? Is that you? What's happening?"

"No idea, sit down…"

Faykan shouted again at the same time as Neville tried to sit on Crookshanks. There was a thud as someone fell off their seat onto the floor and Faykan began to moan in agony.

"Faykan?" Harry said getting off his seat and feeling around for his friend. The door slid open again, and someone tripped over Harry with a squeal of pain.

"Who's that?"

"Who's that?"

"Ginny?"

"Harry?"

"What are you doing?"

"Quiet!" said a hoarse voice suddenly.

Professor Lupin appeared to have woken up at last by all the noise. Harry could hear movements in his corner.

None of them spoke but Faykan, still on the floor, had started to scream in anguish.

There was a soft, crackling noise, and a shivering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames. They illuminated his tired, gray face, but his eyes looked alert and wary. Lupin knelt near Faykan's head and in the light revealed that he was curled on the floor, grasping desperately at his chest and shaking madly. His screams started increasing in pitch as Professor Lupin tried to remove his hand to look at what was paining him.

And then the compartment door slid slowly open.

Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the shivering flames in Lupin's hand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. Faykan's screams became even more sharp and piercing and he started to thrash on the floor. Harry's eyes darted downward, and what he saw made his stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, grayish, slimy looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water…

But it was visible only for a split second. Faykan screamed something in elvish that Harry couldn't understand, "Ai Elbereth!"[1*] The hand was suddenly withdrawn into the folds of its black cloak and the creature reared back slightly.

And then the thing beneath the hood, whatever it was, drew a long, slow, rattling breath, as though it were trying to suck something more than air from its surroundings.

An intense cold swept over them all. Harry felt his own breath catch in his chest. The cold went deeper than his skin. It was inside his chest, it was inside his very heart...

Harry's eyes rolled up into his head. He couldn't see. He was drowning in cold. There was a rushing in his ears as though of water. He was being dragged downward, the roaring growing louder...

And then, from far away, he heard screaming, terrible, terrified, pleading screams, but they weren't coming from Faykan. He wanted to help whoever it was, he tried to move his arms, but couldn't... a thick white fog was swirling around him, inside him…

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"Harry! Harry! Are you all right?"

Someone was slapping his face.

"W-what?"

Harry opened his eyes; there were lanterns above him, and the floor was shaking. The Hogwarts Express was moving again and the lights had come back on. He seemed to have slid out of his seat onto the floor. Ron and Hermione were kneeling next to him, and above them he could see Neville and Professor Lupin watching. Faykan was lying on the seat vacated by Professor Lupin, wide eyed and still shaking badly. Harry felt very sick; when he put up his hand to push his glasses back on, he felt cold sweat on his face.

Ron and Hermione heaved him back onto his seat.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked nervously.

"Yeah," said Harry, looking quickly toward the door. The hooded creature had vanished. "What happened? Where's that, that thing? Who screamed?"

"No one screamed, other than Faykan," said Ron, more nervously still.

Harry looked around the bright compartment. Ginny and Neville looked back at him, both very pale.

"But I heard screaming…"

A loud snap made them all jump. Professor Lupin was breaking an enormous slab of chocolate into pieces.

"Here," he said to Harry, handing him and Faykan particularly large pieces. "Eat it. It'll help."

Harry took the chocolate but didn't eat it.

"What was that thing?" he asked Lupin.

"A dementor," said Lupin, who was now giving chocolate to everyone else, "one of the dementors of Azkaban."

Everyone stared at him. Professor Lupin crumpled up the empty chocolate wrapper and put it in his pocket.

"Eat," he repeated. "It'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me...

He strolled past Harry and disappeared into the corridor.

"Are you sure you're okay, Harry?" said Hermione, watching Harry anxiously.

"I don't get it... What happened?" said Harry, wiping more sweat off his face.

"We thought you might have been having a fit, just like Faykan was, but not nearly as severe," Ron said, still looking very scared.

"And Professor Lupin stepped over you, and walked toward the dementor, and pulled out his wand," said Hermione, "and he said, 'None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go.' But the dementor didn't move, so Lupin muttered something, and a silvery thing shot out of his wand at it, and it turned around and sort of glided away... "

"It was horrible," said Neville, in a higher voice than usual. "Did you feel how cold it got when it came in?"

"I felt weird," said Ron, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably. "Like I'd never be cheerful again..."

Ginny, who was huddled in her corner looking nearly as bad as Harry felt, gave a small sob; Hermione went over and put a comforting arm around her.

Professor Lupin had come back. He paused as he entered, looked around, and said, with a small smile, "I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know..."

Harry took a bite and to his great surprise felt warmth spread suddenly to the tips of his fingers and toes.

"We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes," said Professor Lupin. "Are you all right, Harry?"

Harry didn't ask how Professor Lupin knew his name.

"Fine," he muttered, and the Professor turned and started to coax Faykan into eating his chocolate. Slowly Faykan started to nibble it, and Professor Lupin pushed him to lie flat on the seat, moving Neville and Ginny to stand to the side. "I'm going to lift your shirt so I can see what you were trying desperately to grab, alright?" he said in a calm soothing voice. Faykan nodded slightly, but his eyes were unfocused and dim. Professor Lupin then lifted his shirt, and Harry gasped; there was a small scar in the shape of a line on Faykan's chest. It was swollen an angry shade of red and looked like it was infected or inflamed. Lupin ran a finger down the side of it and Faykan moaned in pain again, rolling to get away from the probing fingers.

"Its just inflamed and irritated, it should die down in an hour or two." Lupin said finally, standing again. "If it doesn't I want you to see Madam Pomfrey immediately, understand?" Faykan nodded again, and Harry could see his eyes coming back into focus although they looked far deeper then usual, and filled with grief.

[1] Ai Elbereth: oh star-queen

* Elbereth is queen of the Valar, wife of Manwë

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